akellard •
Comments

Henry, for me, is defined by a mistake he's already made (abandoning his wife) and this controls the game, not the invisible walls, lack of interactivity etc.

Everything I did was informed by Henry's crappy choice: constantly replacing the photo on the desk, putting the wedding ring back on, friend-zoning Delilah. Limited as the interaction was I took every opportunity to remind Henry of his commitment to his wife and his mistake in leaving her.

Firewatch is about redemption for me in this sense I think, and for that purpose the game absolutely revolves around Henry and his turmoil (and succeeds amazingly as a result). The game is rigid, staged, in some ways but it still allows for choice in ways that are meaningful to the story and Henry as a character - a man that's avoiding making a choice. Everything feeds into this for me and I didn't feel a loss for not being able to walk around everywhere or interact with everything.

Anyway, thank you for the thoughtful article. I think I disagree but I found this take interesting!

I enjoyed the writing, but watchtower example doesn't demostrate ritualistic behaviour in my experience. My desire to climb them in Farcry for instance was driven by getting free weapons and more access to the map. This is gameplay. Me always using the zip line to descend after activating is ritual. Reply+3

I agree that this is the first MGS4 cinematic that didn't immediately impress me. Perhaps because of the insane cheese factor, but more likely due to the horrendous shaky-cam overkill. Directors really need to innovate better ways of portraying frantic drama. Jesus. Reply0

Didn't they announce recently that ES is going to be released on the PS3 at a later date?

Plus the arguments about "core audiences" seem a bit short-sighted considering how much Microsoft have emphasised their intentions toward Japan. Halo, Gotham etc might be the cornerstones of the Western market (which I don't really agree with - I bought my 360 for Oblivion and the BioWare RPGs, past and future), but if they want to develop a market in Japan they need solid RPGs.

Plus, RPGs aren't the complete niche attractions they once were. Why would Square-Enix invest its time/money in a simultaneous international release of a new RPG IP in Last Remnant if it was such a nowhere market? Reply0

The review seems to miss the point of this being a remake in the truest sense of the word. Squenix made no claims that it would be trying modernise the game; if anything they wanted to keep it as true to its root as possible.

Still, I'd agree it's antiquated in a rather grating way, but the point is people shouldn't buy Final Fantasy *3* if they're looking for innovation in the series. All the subsequent criticisms that stem from this just seem a bit obvious. I think the moderate facelift mislead people to think that other aspects would be modernised, but if you approach the game knowing you're basically playing a NES game it's just as charming and addictive as any other FF.

I dunno, this review rubbed me the wrong way. The underlying points have merit and people need to be alerted to the ancient gameplay (though the difficulty alleviates when you adjust to accommodate it), but the whole thing smacked of 'no shit, sherlock'. I'd agree with a 6 if it was expressed in a slightly more informed/understanding way, but really it read more like an extended whinge. Reply0

The graphics have their fair share of flaws but the level of design is what really blew my mind. Same with ICO - there's something so vacantly beautiful about things, but with these little hints of character that keep it from being too abstract. Definitely a high 9 in my opinion.

Cheers for the comments guys. I'm -definitely- cutting the length of my next one to half the size of this beast, though, I promise. The dodgy grammar and formatting are going to be sorted out as well.

itamae: I kinda liked Jin (he was a good little scrapper and an interesting dynamic to Shion), although I can see where you're coming from. Do you think he was just there to appease Xenogears fans?

I worry for episode three as well. The idea of a six-part epic is what really appealed to my RPG fanboy loins in the first place, and now it feels the series has lost its guiding force in Takahashi and turned towards more the fan-service. Can't say idea of seeing Xenogears 'remade' didn't tickle my fancy either...

Decoded: Yeah, most of my Game Overs came before I fully understood the battle system (how to air/ground break especially). It may have been dimness on my part but it felt like the fundamentals of the battle system were never properly explained, not even in the manual. I definitely enjoyed it once everything came together, though. Reply0